AOC Planted a Rooftop Garden Plot at her DC Digs.. . . and More News
An occasional link roundup
USDA is uprooting economists and researchers
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is keen to transplant USDA economists and researchers from the DC area to the Heartland. Why? USDA won’t say, but recent objective studies by the USDA Economic Research Service have found that the 2017 tax cuts only benefit the very largest farmers, the Trump tariff war caused farm income to drop 13%, and the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance) program the administration wants to cut is good for the economy. The shake-up might help the Trump Administration avoid facts it doesn’t like, but it would hurt the quality, quantity, and objectivity of agricultural research, say 101 agriculture, food, and science organizations. USDA researchers are resigning rather than uprooting their families, and remaining USDA researchers have voted to unionize. Secretary Perdue has tried to shift attention from all this by running an Amazon-HQ2-style contest for the new research location.
Maverick meat news
Pork tariffs and African Swine Fever dominate animal protein headlines, but there’s more meat news on the hoof: Australia is trying to end its feral camel crisis by harvesting the meat and exporting it. Likewise, Cayman Island chef Thomas…
